great to have you with me. we'll spend a little bit of time together on this fourth of july. it is noon on the east coast, i'm thomas roberts. we start with our lead story today, talking about egypt. it is celebrating a new leader, the country swearing in an interim president, hours after the military ousts embattled islamist mohamed morsi. well, no country for edward snowden after rumors that he may have tried to be on board a bolivian president's plane. the focus now shifting back to moscow where he remains and snowden's current search for asylum. the prosecution may be close to resting its case in the george zimmerman trial. will it call one of the case's most anticipated witnesses, trayvon martin's mother to the stand? but first, two years after the fall of egyptian hosni mubarak and one year after the nation's first democratic elections, egyptians are once again demanding change. yesterday they got it. crowds in tahrir square erupted into fireworks and celebration last night as the military

removed president mohamed morsi from power, suspended the constitution and installed an interim government. this morning a senior jurist was sworn in as egypt's acting head of state. as of this hour the associated press is announcing the arrest of a top muslim brotherhood leader while former president mohamed morsi remains under house arrest. joining me from cairo, nbc news foreign correspondent ayman, authorities are still looking for others. correct? >> reporter: that's correct. it is important to emphasize that nbc news has not independently confirmed that. that is a report that the associated press is making. this would certainly be a significant development. however, we do know that an arrest warrant has been issued not only for the leader of the muslim brotherhood but also for one of his top deputies, a man who is widely considered to be the policy architect of the muslim brotherhood. these two individuals now have arrest warrants out for them for

their involvement in ordering or inciting the killing of protesters outside the muslim brotherhood headquarters this past sunday. but aside from those two individuals, we have already seen the pressure being stepped up against islamist organizations, including the muslim brotherhood. by already know that several media outlets affiliated with them have been shut down. there have been mid level arrests of some individuals. more importantly, a cairo prosecutor now has also launched an investigation into former president mohamed morsi and eight other individuals on the charges that they attacked &, assaulted and defamed country's judiciary and judges. so they, too, now have a travel ban that's been imposed against them. there is certainly growing concern and in what people are describing as a crackdown against islamist and islamist organizations here in egypt. >> explain the mood for the people now. we've seen the reaction to what the news was of morsi's ouster. also the energy expended to get that ouster.

we are looking at shots now of tahrir square but explain the mood of people on the ground now and i guess the anticipation that looms for what comes next. >> reporter: well, the mood is certainly one depending on who you are asking, but certainly one of optimism, one of euphoria, one of joy for those that were taking to the streets demanding the ouster of president morsi. that's also been reflected economically. the egyptian stock market today is breaking all kinds of records, an indication that perhaps economic confidence from investors was that this was a good investment for egypt's future. but no doubt about, those that supported president morsi, are saying this is a very dangerous assault on democracy, legitimacy and constitutionality. they, too, have begun to organize themselves in different rallies and protests across the country. later today they are holding a large-scale demonstration demanding that the president be reinstated. going forward the task will be very challenging on the new interim president. he'll have to first form a cabinet government to manage the day to day affairs of the

country. but more importantly he will have to put in a long-term plan to lead this country's transition to parliamentary and presidential elections. >> long road ahead. joining us now from washington, al jazeera's washington bureau chief. as i understand it, security forces raided the cairo offices of al jazeera yesterday, as well as other certain media outlets. explain how much of a concern that is to you and yours and the coverage that you are trying to provide. >> well, obviously al jazeera has many -- several different strands. the offices that you are talking about in cairo are the offices of arabic equivalent of c-span here in america. it has been criticized in egypt particularly by those people who see morsi and the muslim

brotherhood as having been bad for egypt and they've accused them of providing a platform for morsi and the muslim brotherhood. but i think al jazeera as a whole has been caught up in what's been happening in egypt over the last couple of years. as you know, many egyptians laud al jazeera for the role that it played to the run-up in the events in tahrir square two years ago. but some egyptians have been very unhappy about the coverage that al jazeera has provided since the ouster of mubarak an we've seen, as we heard from ayman, we've seen the military authorities in egypt move against several channels, some of them belong to the muslim brotherhood. but also against al jazeera mubasha. >> let's talk about this story from american university in cairo, quoted in the "new york

times," saying that this is not about islamism, it is about egyptian people wanting a unifi unified rule from the government, not ruled by clique, as the muslim brotherhood. do you think there is the possibility? the muslim brotherhood is well known, certainly in egypt, and has been well known to want to control the country. do you think that there is a suitable successor, a party successor that can emerge out of this? >> well, i think as your guy in cairo pointed out a little while ago, it depends who you talk to. it certainly is a very complex and complicated situation. i think two years ago with the ouster of mubarak, those crucial 18 days that paved the way for his ouster created a lot of help that part of the revolution that was going to provide closure. obviously since then closure has

not happened and the egyptian political scene has been fragmented. the military took over from mubarak and the military at that time came under intense criticism from many of the youth, the revolutionaries who helped ouster mubarak. muslim brotherhood initially said that they weren't even going to field a presidential candidate. they did in the end. they ended up controlling parliament. they ended up assuming the reins of power. they opened themselves to criticism for not having been able to deal with the complex political and economic problems of egypt. and i think what we have seen over the last 24 hours in egypt, we have seen an issue of legitimacy and credibility. i think the army has bolstered its credibility but it's come under attack for having

undermined legitimacy. but also for morsi, he claims he and his supporters claim that they've been denied legitimacy but they haven't enjoyed a whole lot of credibility over the last couple of years. the emergence of new leadership, i think that option does exist now that many of the leaders of the muslim brotherhood have been detained for various reasons. it's going to be very interesting to see whether morsi will be reinstated as his supporters want or if the political scene as we have seen it outlined by the military will emerge and new leadership for the muslim brotherhood will also emerge and be allowed to operate. >> thank you, sir. i appreciate it. after a day of confusion in the skies and diplomatic finger pointing amid rumors edward snowden may a hitched a ride out of russia on board the bolivian president's plane, the nsa leaker remains stranded in the transit area of a moscow airport with none of the 21 countries to which he has requested asylum

ready to come to him. for the latest, i'm joined by nbc's jim maceda in moscow for us. explain the controversy around the bolivian president's plane and also where it stands with the whereabouts of snowden and where he wants to go. >> reporter: well, let's start with snowden. because it is an easy segue for me. snowden is still believed to be in a secure hotel. forgive me, because the wind is really kicking up here. in the airport's transit zone. we've been talking about that transit zone now for 12 days. we believe that he's been in this kind of hotel, sealed off floor in a special hotel in this transit zone. probably trying to figure out where he can go and how he will be able to get there without a travel document. let me also mention that ambassador mike mcfaul said u.s.-russian negotiations over snowden are ongoing. but handing over snowden to u.s.

authorities still really seems to be a very solid red line for russian president vladimir putin. so talking about snowden's options. they are clearly narrowing. bolivia, before the plane incident, was probably at the front of the pack. now bolivia is probably fallen back because bolivia now has seen the kind of u.s. pressure, sometimes subtle, sometimes less subtle often behind the scenes that the country is exerting on these so-called snowden friendly countries. take ecuador as well. only last week ecuador seemed to be driving the asylum process. but now has backed off saying that snowden will have to get to ecuador first before getting any kind of consideration. venezuela, nicholas medora, exam singing praises on tuesday, by thursday saying he'll wait for world reaction before making any

kind of final decision. so u.s. pressure clearly being felt here, but so far not in russia. >> nbc's jim maceda, thank you, sir. the obama administration's announcement this week that it will delay by a year the implementation of a provision in the affordable care act. that is requiring large companies to provide health care to their employees. it is drawing the consternation of republicans who were quick to blast that law. what are the political and practical implications of the delay? joining me now to discuss it, m.j. lee, and david nakamora. republicans, guys, they were very quick to jump in to this situation and to be heard. speaker john boehner said this is a clear acknowledgement that the law is unworkable. it underscores the need to repeal the law and replace it with effective patient care reform. how big of a political problem and big of an admission is this to say we need to put this delay

out there until 2015 for the obama administration? >> i think there was a lot of pressure on the obama administration in two ways. one from businesses concerned about this requirement, not understanding all the rules, potentially being penalized if they didn't meet it. the administration is said to have met with the business community many times at top-level conversation behind closed doors. think that's acknowledgement that they believe what they heard and they understood it needed more time. in a political aspect there was also concerns among democrats that if there were problems in implementation on october 1st that this could be a disaster going into an election year and these congressional districts, there is some outside hope maybe that the democrats can use other issues like immigration or even budget issues and sort of blame republicans for not moving on those. so this could be a problem. i think it remains to be seen politically what the fallout is. i think for the obama administration that hopes to make this one of his legacy points they want to make sure they get it right so let's delay it.

>> we had david axelrod on "morning joe" yesterday. he said this is the kind of thing that happens when big pieces of legislation are rolled out. it is bound to have some tweaks and some necessary ups and downs as a roller coaster. >> the nature of these programs, the history of these programs, big social programs, is that they come online at fits and starts, there are bumps in the road. you have to make adjustments along the way but ultimately when history looks back at them we say that was the right thing to do and i think that's the way it is going to be with the affordable care act. >> m.j., bumps, fits and starts. do you agree with that? is this to be expected? >> well, i think an important question that this delay certainly raises for the implementation of the health care law is, does it set the precedent for more delays coming down the line? but let's not forget, as david axelrod mentioned himself, this is not the first time that the administration has granted no waivers or exceptions or has

delayed implementing certain parts of the law when certain interest groups have come out and said we're just not ready, we are not ready to implement parts of the law and we just need more time. i have to say, thomas, i don't know that's necessarily a bad strategy for the democrats. i think that the other alternative is for the administration to be extremely rigid and holding on to the initial timeline that they initially had in place. i don't know that that fully embraces the reality of this health care law which is -- that it is massive and it is huge and it is going to take a lot of time for them to sort of work out the kinks and make sure that all of the interested parties are able to implement the law smoothly. >> politico is saying that while there may be some winners and some losers, the overall number of people gaining health insurance in 2014 probably won't change all that much. basically is the administration essentially arguing that it is not going to affect the individual mandate or the health care exchanges, or david, do you think that buys them cover because of the fact that maybe

this is going to prolong how quickly health care exchanges get started? >> i think it does provide a little cover in that way. i think as you see it rolled out, what david axelrod is talking about is some case true in the sense that this is an administration that really wants this to be a legacy and it just sort of put it out too quickly, have all these problems is probably a worse scenario than letting it drag on and past the election. n if you take your time with it, it doesn't become as big an issue. make sure before the president leaves office it is in place and in place for a lock time. >> mao is it not a bigger election issue? "the washington post" says the ads in swing races are being written as we speak. a republican strategist is saying that. republicans hate obama care. they are -- it is a rallying cry. so this just gives more fuel to the fire that it is unworkable, that it is a train wreck. so doesn't that help them come

mid-term time? >> well, i think as we weigh the positives and negatives of this delay, it is important to keep in mind that it is really unclear at this point how this is going to actually affect hiring after the rest of 2013 as well as 2014. on one hand you could argue small businesses had some good news in this delay. some of the small businesses were right on the cusp of having 15 or more employers. they were sort of holding off on hiring so they wouldn't fall into that category and wouldn't risk being penalized if they couldn't implement this mandate. but at the same time, while it may be good news for small businesses, the one-year delay basically prolongs the uncertainty for an extra year, so i would have to think that this delay is helpful for small businesses in some ways, but other businesses are continue to going to hold back because they have to exercise caution. they just don't know what's going to happen in 2015. >> great to see both of you.

thanks for your time. coming up, the prosecution in the george zimmerman trial could now be on the verge of resting its case but not before they've called one of zimmerman's former professors to the stand. it was explosive testimony. details and analysis from our legal panel after a quick break. ? [ loud crash ] what is going on?! honey, i was close! it's a yeti! [ male announcer ] must! have! wheat thins! lookin' good, flo! feelin' good! feelin' real good!

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the zimmerman trial is in recess for the july fourth holiday but when court resumes tomorrow, the state could wrap up its case by the end of the day. yesterday prosecutors focused on demonstrating george zimmerman's knowledge of criminal justice by calling two former college professors of his to the stand. jurors also heard testimony from a dna analyst and a firearms expert. as we've been reporting, george zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. he has pleaded not guilty. he claims it was self-defense.

sara dallap is in sanford, florida. >> reporter: good afternoon, thomas. what we can expect tomorrow is more key witnesses, perhaps the medical examiner and we are hearing trayvon martin's mother will testify in what should be some of the most emotional moments of the trial. the judge indicated yesterday that the prosecution would wrap up then, but some of those key technical witnesses easily fill the day. first we heard from the state firearms expert who testified about the contact shot that killed 17-year-old trayvon martin, contact mooens meaning the gun was actually touching the sweatshirt, his sweatshirt, when it was fired. we also heard from a police crime lab analyst who stated that he found neither trayvon martin's dna under george zimmerman's fingernails, nor trayvon martin's dna on the pistol grip of zimmerman's gun. the defense raising questions about its external factors like storage or temperature could have affected those dna

findings. also on the stand yesterday we heard from one of george zimmerman's former professors who taught a class on criminal law. that professor testified that he did teach about self-defense laws, as well as a section of his course on florida's stand your ground law. he says zimmerman was one of his better students and that zimmerman actually received an "a" in class. we are expecting court to start a little early tomorrow morning, about 8:30. as we've stated, the prosecution is expected to wrap their case tomorrow. back to you. >> sarah dallof, thanks so much. joining me now, criminal defense attorney and arise news legal contributor, seema iyer and kendall coffey. we have a rest until jurors get back into the courtroom tomorrow but jurors got to see the interview george zimmerman did

with fox news in which he says he knew nothing about florida's stand your ground law. but yesterday we heard testimony that conflicts that. take a look. >> what can you tell us about how long you spent as part of that course covering ideas like self-defense and stand your ground. >> right. self-defense is an affirmative defense. it is a big self-defense. it is not one of those things are you going to just whisk through in a day or after you teach it you're going to neglect from bringing it back into the classroom. so it was something that i constantly iterated. >> so carter claims zimmerman got an "a" in the class, he was a good student. how much do you think that that helps the case for the prosecution? again, when we talk about college, we're going back decades. this was 2010 for zimmerman's college. this was not that long ago before the shooting. >> it is a blatant lie that he did not know what self-defense is and further that did he not know what stand your ground was.

this is a terrible lie. however, what the professor did do, which is hurtful to the prosecution -- prosecution just keeps getting slammed at every turn the professor explained even if zimmerman started the fight, and he was attacked, he could then retaliate. >> does this paint the vigilante zimmerman was, he couldn't get into certain cop programs, he has the desire, he obviously has the nonl needknowledge needed. does that help paint the narrative for his mindset? is. >> i think it is critical for the prosecution's narrative. the wannabe cop theme shows, according to the prosecution's, zimmerman's willingness to, in effect, take the law into his own hands, using lethal force. it also showed that he had the knowledge to come up with a story. he could use the ins and outs of his insights about stand your ground law in order to craft a

story that is a pretty good story. that's one of the things the prosecution needs to demonstrate, to penetrate, break up zimmerman's account by showing that it is something that was essentially scripted and conceived so that george zimmerman could literally get away with murder. >> here's the other thing. his friend mark osterman, his best friend talked about the fact that george was going out to get his week's worth of sandwiches or lunches or something like that and he was going to the local costco or some local grocery. who packs their gun to go to the grocery store? >> that's what i thought. >> i think they pack their own guns. >> but i mean who packs the gun to go to the -- like i'm going to go buy my sandwiches for the week. why do i need to take my gun with me to the grocery store? >> i think again, as kendall was saying, this is setting the personality of george zimmerman up that he was so desperate to be a part of this association of police officers and law enforcement, so in every

opportunity, everything he did he was putting on that cape, putting on that role. >> well, it kind of blew my mind about that. let's get to the other thing that's really interesting, too. the dna evidence, the testimony we had yesterday, if we can play that real quickly, about what wasn't found on trayvon martin. >> did you then also examine fingernail scrapings from trayvon martin taken at the medical examiner's office? >> i did. there was no dna foreign to him on that sample. >> in other words, from the right fingernail scrapings of trayvon martin, did you not find nef george zimmerman's dna there. is that correct? >> no. there was nothing foreign to trayvon martin. >> kendall, let me ask you, the impression that's meant to leave with the jury, that's supposed to leave with them the fact that trayvon martin could not have been involved in this heavy fight, blood coming off of george zimmerman, and then come away with it with absolutely nothing on his hands or under his fingernails. >> and that's, again, a key point for the prosecution.

the defense is claiming this was -- in the words they used in opening -- a vicious beating. not a bit of dna in trayvon martin's fingernails. as you also know, another part of the defense story is that trayvon martin was reaching for zimmerman's gun. according to what osterman said about what zimmerman said, trayvon martin had grabbed the gun and zimmerman had to break the grip. not a bit of dna fingerprints of trayvon martin on the gun. that's another helpful factor for the prosecution. >> seema -- >> it is helpful. but let's put this in perspective. that touch dna, meaning me just touching your hand or touching the gun, is less transferable than, let's say, blood, sweat, saliva. we have to put that in perspective that on the gun, it is less likely that you would find dna anyway. >> but we should if zimmerman's bleeding like a stuffed pig -- >> i agree with that. trayvon should have had zimmerman's dna under the fingernails.

that would corroborate him being bashed in the head. >> thanks to you both. massachusetts police have uncovered a trove of evidence that could link former new england patriots tight end aaron hernandez to the murder of odon lloyd. authorities raid what had they called a flop house where they discovered a large stock of ammunition and receipts with hernandez's name. they also found a white sweat shift and baseball cap, similar to the ones worn by the nfl star the night of lloyd's death. hernandez is being held without bail, charged with first degree murder in connection with lloyd's homicide. in dallas for a cookout with world champion grill master brett galloway. he's serving his guests walmart choice premium steaks. but they don't know it yet. they will. it's a steak-over. steak was excellent. very tender. melts in your mouth. it was delicious. tonight you are eating walmart steak. what???!! good steak. two thumbs up? look, i ate all of mine. it matches any good steakhouse if not better. walmart choice premium steak in the black package. it's 100% money back guaranteed. try it for your next backyard barbecue.

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deliberate work, very cautious work and our goal is to put this thing to bed as quickly as we can but we want to be absolutely certain that it is done. >> nbc's miguel almaguer live for us in prescott, arizona. what are officials saying about when they hope to have the fire more contained? it is 45%, hopefully weather is helping out. what are their hopes? >> reporter: you're right, the fire was last justified at 45% contained, we expect the number to rise later today, crews getting a much better handle on this blaze that's been burning since last sunday. they hope to have it fully contained, which is to say crews will be around the perimeter completely about a week from today, next friday. crews certainly are making some steady progress on this fire. the wind conditions here have been somewhat of an issue for firefighters but this fire has been laying down which is to say it hasn't been burning up trees and then jumping from tree top to tree top. this is a low-burning fire. that's good news for firefighters but it is certainly a concern today, thomas.

>> the other thing we are also learning about the themmial servi memorial services for the 19 firefighters. what are the details and also about the investigation to find out more specifics about how they got caught in the fire? >> reporter: the investigation began yesterday. it includes a team of federal investigators who will spend much of the time in the burn zone where those 19 firefighters were overcome by flames. they'll look to figure out exactly what went wrong. at this point it is believed that the weather, the wind, was a major factor in having those firefighters overcome by flames. as you mentioned, there is going to be a large memorial for those firefighters, for all 19 men. there will be a memorial next tuesday, held in phoenix, because it is the only area with where they could find a center that could hold the thousands of people that are expected to attend here in prescott. this is a very tight-knit, very small community. they lost 19 men. almost all of them lived here in this community. so we can expect that memorial to be a huge event, thomas.

>> nbc's miguel almaguer, thanks so much. jeb bush is calling on his party to stop being an obstacle to immigration reform but some house republicans are already voicing their skepticism. first, a special shout out from one of america's heroes on this independence day. >> hi, i'm tech sergeant keri embry. want to brish my family in cross plains, tennessee a happy fourth of july. what makes a sleep number store different? what makes a sleep number you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number summer closeout. where you'll find great savings on the extraordinary sleep number bed,

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house correspondent, peter alexander. talk about the options that the obama administration has based on the analysis of the situation in egypt is what? >> reporter: thomas, we've watched the white house be largely hands off during the course of this crisis. this is the first crisis management situation for the new national security team that's overseen by the president but also by his new national security advisor susan rice. one word not used in that statement put out bit president late yesterday is the word coup. white house is not explicitly supporting the military's removal of morsi from power. what they are really trying to do with the language there is to put pressure on the military, make sure that they follow through with their pledge to have new elections take place soon so a new democratically elected leader can be put in place soon to exercise restraint as well. another point the administration makes there is some concern that the new leadership in that country, the military may in some way try to crack down on the muslim brotherhood and

mohamed morsi himself. that's why one of the things we hear about as well here is the issue of aid. right now the u.s. gives $1.6 billion in aid to that country. if this were a coup they'd be forced to stop that. by even bringing up the idea that the u.s. will review aid, they are pressuring the military saying if we need to, we can cut this. for now we are just reviewing this. >> nbc's peter alexander reporting from the white house, thank you. with the senate's passing of immigration reform last week, all eyes are now focused on the house which continues to work on legislation to secure the nation's borders and bringing the 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. what are the chances after bill passing in the republican-led house? we have house speaker john boehner being very clear on this

last week that any immigration must have the support of a majority of his members, basically the hastert rule is in effect. let me take -- let me have you take a listen to this and we'll talk on the other side. >> the house is not going to take up and vote on whatever the senate passes. we're going to do our own bill through regular order and it there will be legislation that reflects the will of our majority and the will of the american people. >> joe, is there any indication -- or what should we believe that any legislation that's including a path to citizenship can get through the house? >> well, many republicans hope and pray that this will happen, that there will be -- that we'll have comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed by the house. jeb bush has called for the house to move quickly on this and i don't know that they'll heed his call but he's saying certainly the right thing. i think there are a lot of republicans. clearly we know that there are

republicans on the senate side who certainly want to see them move forward. speaker boehner has all the cards right now. i am not confident given what i know of our members on the house side that they will get what we'd like to see happen. >> chris, how do you predict this plays out? speaker boehner has the upper hand in trying to move this forward. he's been very open about the fact that he wants the hastert rule in place, to have a majority of the majority. but do you see the compromise necessary to move this forward or is it really just a stall tactic to kind of let this fade out? >> well, i think it depends on what speaker boehner wants. what i mean by that is does he want to keep his speakership or does he want to do the right thing and actually not only what's good for the country in terms of passing comprehensive immigration reform, but i would argue, painfully, that actually it is good for the republican party. the reality i think the republicans face in the house is, they clearly do not want a path to citizenship. if they don't include that, or

if they water it down as it is being -- i think that the talk suggests, they be they pass something and -- the likelihood that it goes to conference and they come one any compromise that can then pass the senate becomes then very unlikely. so i think speaker boehner and obviously he's hearing it from other republicans and other political figures. but the reality here is, i think he has to understand the political consequences for republicans would be severe. they would not win another national election, at least for two cycles. >> all right, guys. we got to cut it short there. i apologize. thanks to both, wish you a happy fourth. don't do anything bad with firecrackers today. i do have some sparklers on the set though. that i can give to joe -- chris, i can't give them to you. you're too far away. thank you, gentlemen. the markets finished pretty strong wednesday. and had a celebrity guest to usher them in to the fourth of july holiday spirit. look at that play on words there.

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so the family of nelson mandela says the former south african president is on life support and describes his condition at perilous. the 94-year-old remains in critical condition at a hospital in pretoria. today mandela's wife thanked all of south africa for its love and support. >> we feel all of us equal eqin the love for him but more importantly it has to be in the love for our country. >> nbc's ron allen is live for us in pretoria, south africa. ron, we can see the sun has gone down but well wishers still remain behind you.

what's the spirit, the mood, of the people there? >> reporter: very subdued here at night. the crowds are smaller, thomas. people have gone home. there's kind of an understanding that the government is not going to make any big announcements late in the evening here so people tend to call it a day, if you will, of maintaining the vigille here. inside the hospital we believe his wife made a rare time of leaving. she's been at nelson mandela's bedside since june 8th. she said he's comfortable for the most part, basically he's "fine." critical condition is what the government is saying. we don't know what that means but we know the vigil continues, things remain stable and we await more word in the morning. >> ron allen, thank you. coming up, we'll shift gears back home and talk about a big bash on the bayou.

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so the fourth of july holiday coincides with the big weekend, a long celebration taking place in new orleans, the 19th annual essence festival is expected to draw huge crowds to the big easy. this is billed as the largest annual african-american event celebrating music and culture and beyond that, the three-day fest ral is also about empowerment and also about giving back. msnbc is an official sponsor this year. joining me live from new orleans, mara, in years past when we talked about this festival, it's known as the essence music festival but this year they've changed it just to the essence festival. how is that supposed to reflect some of the changes that have come now that it is more than just about music? >> they've dropped the music because whether it first started

it was really more about that. now it's grown into so much more. it is three days of what they call a party with a purpose. so during the day they have this empowerment experience. a number of panels and events that people can go to that address really serious issues in the community, things like gun violence, health and jobs. then at night you have the musical performances, concerts and the party. you mentioned msnbc's partnership with essence. this is the first year we've had this had partnership. you might be able to see over my shoulder is our set. it is getting all its final touches and tweaks. as part of that yesterday, msnbc co-sponsored a health clinic with the national association of free and charitable clinics. that's a great thing anywhere but there really is a need for it in louisiana. have you an estimated 23% of adults here without health insurance. that's compared to 18% nationally. this is also one of the states that plans to refuse medicaid expansion under obama care so there is a big need for that. msnbc helped to step in and provide this free clinic.

over 700 people stepped in to come and receive care. this event is also very big for the city of new orleans. it is estimated about 90,000 people are going to come here to get their party with a purpose on and it brings a lot of much needed tourism dollars. estimated $90 million. i say much needed because this tends to be the slow season in new orleans. it is hot, it is humid. that's discourages some people from coming but not the folks at essence fast. >> beyonce is due in the big easy. i know that you might have a secret love for beyonce. do you have tickets to go see beyonce yet? >> i do have tickets, yes. for anybody who knowed me, i am obsessed with this woman. this is my first time seeing her live. i am beyond the moon. she's the headliner, the last performance on the last night. i'm normally up past 8:00 but i will stay up late -- >> what kind of super fan of you if this is your first time ever seeing her live? you're a super fan.

>> it is almost like i'm scared to get too close. but this time i'm getting over it. >> we are excited for you. thanks so much. great to see you. msnbc will have live coverage from the essence festival in new orleans tomorrow. look right there. the line-up that we have for you beginning at noon eastern. you'll be able to catchal election wagner, chris matthews, tamron hall, al sharpton, ed schultz and more. it is going to be great. an estimate 3d million people in new york city and millions more across the country get to celebrate the nation's birthday with the macy's fireworks display tonight. more than 40,000 fireworks shells will be fired from barges in new york's hudson river but this year the show was crafted like never before with organizers bringing in a celebrity curator. amy, it is great to have you here. >> i'm very excited to be here. >> we talk about this cool curator. it is usher. who is certainly a big fan

favorite around here. for us at msnbc because of the vois a "voice." but he worked specifically on the play list as well as pyrotechnics. >> he did. he's been extraordinary to work with. this is a guy who's got eight grammys. he's had the chance to produce stage shows, his music, he dances, he sings like nobody else but we gave him an opportunity to paint the sky and create the soundtrack that would go with america's fourth of july fireworks. he's done an extraordinary job and he's chosen music that covers all genres. it is pop, it is hip-hop, it is classical, there is a lot of throwback stuff and there's some spoken word as well. he's been extra order to work with. >> you got to test this out in the desert, correct? so he could see the fireworks in their full glory to then know how to best pair them with the songs. >> absolutely. we had the great pleasure of going to the desert with usher. not people can say that. we took him out to the middle of nowhere. there are actually 13 segments of the macy's fourth of july

fireworks. we gave him a color palate and said mirror those fireworks with the music. we detonated in the sky as much as we could so he could really see the vision come together piece by piece. >> this is a huge vision, for those enough to come watch in the city. i heard there might and beating heart in the sky this year. >> through science and technology the fireworks have become a lot more technical and sophisticated. for the two miles we have along the hudson river with these 40,000 bursts in the sky you'll see things like beating hearts, hearts that go up in the air, burst once, then two more times. we have smiley faces that in the past would just simply smile. this year they're going to be winking at you. there is a lot. we have a shell that we created specifically for usher. it is called the usher shell. it is really smart naming there. but it is bright red, similar to one of his favorite colors in the color of his shoes that he wears every time we're with him.

>> we talk about usher being curator of play lists and helping with what we'll see, displays in the sky but it takes a lot of people to pull this off. how many people do you have planning this? >> you'd be surprised. we have a relatively small team at macy's that really plans all of our events. macy's thanksgiving day parade and the macy's fourth of july fireworks. but putting the show together takes two weeks on the river, 60 men and women hand placing each of the fireworks in their appropriate spot so when we are on the fourth, those 13 computers are talking to the four barges on the river and it is a magnificent show. >> the empire state building makes a cameo, too? >> it does. we compete with the skyline of new york when we throw those fireworks up in the air but this year we've got the skyline actually working with us. the top of the empire state building is now programmable. it is fully loaded with gorgeous l.e.d. lights and for the course of the show, the empire state building is going to change

color but for the grand finale the empire state build something going to mirror the colors that we have looming over the hudson river. >> we love this! the synergy you are pulling tofth city. amy, great to have you here. >> thank you. happy fourth of july. a show you'll want to see. watch the macy's fourth of july fireworks display tonight on nbc. gets kick off at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. it is going to be great stuff. that does it for me today. thanks so much. happy fourth of july. rich lui picks up our coverage at the top of the hour. have a great holiday, everybody.